“I love being a doctor because I get to help people and I get to solve puzzles,” Sandeep Patel, MD, an interventional cardiologist at Mercy Health – St. Rita’s Cardiology, shares. “Every clinic patient, consultation, catheterization and intervention is a puzzle or a puzzle piece that I have to put together. I come up with a plan to get people back on the right track.”
Dr. Patel shares that sometimes it’s just tweaking a medication and other times it’s opening an artery, replacing a valve or removing a clot from a leg.
“It’s different every day and each person has a different story,” he shares. “This makes it exciting, challenging and stimulating. Throughout the grind, the patient gets the help he or she needs.”
Dr. Patel’s journey to becoming a doctor was different one than most. He tested into a special program where he got directly into medical school after high school at the age of 17. He describes this as an “unreal experience.”
“I chose to specialize in the heart and vascular because it is truly five organs in one,” Dr. Patel explains. “I love the interaction of the arteries, valves, muscle, chambers and electrical components. If they are not all working correctly, the others suffer.”
He continues, “it is also a specialty that allows for procedural and interventional options that can help people immediately and take people from the brink of death back to their lives quickly. It is truly futuristic that we can do intervention and not have to open the chest or legs to fix people. I enjoy being able to provide these new options to people who are in immediate need of such technologies.”
The three heart healthy tips Dr. Patel gave are to seek attention for your symptoms when needed, prevention is better than treatment and regular check-ups ensure optimal performance.
Outside of work Dr. Patel enjoys movies and traveling with his wife, playing basketball with his son, reading with his daughter and sleeping.
Help us celebrate National Doctors’ Day by sharing a heartfelt message of appreciation for Mercy Health your provider! Please visit mercy.com/doctorsday before March 30 to submit your message of thanks.
